Can a robot become your best friend?

There is no escape: our futures will be more and more digitalised. What position are you taking towards the fast growing digital world we live in? While technology seems to be something we can’t escape from, we are able to re-think our position towards it. The role of technology in our lives is food for thought – and that is why STBY participated in a Digital Detox.

The Digital Detox workshop

In this workshop, hosted by artists Ruben Baart and Roos Groothuizen, we were triggered to take a different look at the digital world. At STBY we tend to embrace technical and digital developments, since they give us lots of possibilities in conducting research. However, we also think it is important to critically reflect on how we use our digital devices. Baart and Groothuizen are artists in residence at Spring House, the workspace of STBY in Amsterdam. With their work, they aim to promote a conversation about the use of digital products.

In the workshop we reflected on the effects of the use of digital devices in our daily lives and explored ‘data detox products’ from the artists’ ‘clinic’. We mapped current and most likely emerging diseases, due to the use of digital products and devices. Together we discussed possible medical resources that could be invented as a cure to those futuristic diseases.

New kinds of medicines

Baart and Groothuizen take an interesting position towards the fast growing digital world we live in. They fully embrace technology, though also look for ways to enrich the conversation about technology in their work. One of the questions they ask themselves is how we can adjust our bodies towards technology. In other words: can we change our bodies in order to fit better in an increasingly digitalised world? As an answer to this they created different kinds of medication – as a metaphor for how we can optimally use our digital devices. For example: they turned ‘Strepsils’ (a common cough relief tablet) into ‘Strepsiri,’ which offers a medicine that will make your voice monotone in order for Siri to always understand what you’re saying. They also turned ‘Tijgerbalsem’ (a common ointment against rashes) into ‘Timerbalsem’ which offers the ultimate selfie relief.

Mixed experiences to digital tech

As the digital age is a hot topic to talk about, from both a positive and negative perspective, framing it in a different way like the two artists do, can help enrich conversations and change attitudes .

“Do you mentally, or physically experience advantages or disadvantages using the digital devices you have within your daily life?” was one of the things we discussed. The experiences of the participants in the workshop were both positive and negative. Some people experienced advantages, such as the fact that specific digital tools, like phones and laptops are very compact, always closeby,and user friendly. Thanks to these mobile devices we’re able to stay in touch with people on the other side of the world. Other participants described disadvantages, like getting headaches from screens, bad eye sight, or a feeling of unrest.

Robots to alleviate loneliness

During the workshop Baart and Groothuizen gave everyone two cards: a Disease Card and a Technology Card. These cards helped us to think about how we could possibly cure a specific disease with a specific technology. This sparked some really interesting ideas and ways of re-thinking our attitudes towards technology. For example, we received a card with “Robot”, and one with “loneliness” written on it. We had two minutes to individually come up with ideas. The next step was to pass along our idea to our neighbour. He or she could re-write theidea and make it more specific.

One of the outcomes of this exercise was an idea for an app that could be used when feeling lonely. The idea is that the app summons a physical robot to walk into your life and becomes your best friend. The robot will be there for you until you don’t need the support anymore. The robot looks like a normal person and it would just feel like a normal friend you can meet in a bar. Another idea was a pair of earbuds that areconnected to your heartbeat and play music related to your exertion, in order to avoid stress.

Food for further thought

Using the cards during the workshop opened up a lot of possibilities for the participants to come up with ideas they would normally not consider. It opened up the minds of the participants. Thanks to the approach of the artists we wereable to reflect on how we use technology, and how we can possibly adjust our bodies to it in the future. If you would take this one step further, it is interesting to raise the question ifour bodies will become part of technology in the future. Some food for thought, let’s see what will happen!

This workshop was not the first time the artists hosted a Data Detox. They have also been shown their work during Dutch Design Week 2018.

In a workshop hosted by STBY during the Service Design Days in Barcelona on the 5th and 6th of October 2018, we prototyped ideas for new service concepts in response to the What Design Can Do Clean Energy Challenge.

Gone are the days of lugging around clunky recorders, hefty cameras and brick-like hard drives to interviews and observation sites. The design researchers of today need only bring along a smartphone hooked up to a few complementary gadgets and software to capture and save quality audio, video and images.

STBY recently went to Nairobi to work with local design research partners on the preparations for the latest Global Design Challenge on Clean Energy. Through workshops with creatives and energy experts we explored local energy issues and developed a better understanding of the Kenyan perspectives on climate change.

When research activities get going in earnest, a lot is produced. If treated too casually, the mass of audio files and transcripts, flip-overs and mini-posters full of post-its, photos, interview notes and feedback mails can quickly turn into a massive hairball that no-one can unpick.

There are now more things connected to the internet than the number of people in the world. Many of these devices are inside our home, from Bluetooth speakers to smart coffee machines and fridges. In the future, even our plates and curtains might be hooked up to the internet. The house will then resemble a lab, in which we are the studied subjects. How much alcohol do we drink? How often do we wash our hair, or cut our nails? Are we snacking more than usual? Spending longer in front of the mirror? Maybe the homes of the future will know.